HCC appreciates fire response

The following letter was sent to firefighters, first responders, and law enforcement personnel for all those who helped with HCC’s recent fire:

The purpose in my letter is to thank all of you who responded to the recent fire at Haywood Community College. We often forget the services of firefighters, first responders, and law enforcement personnel until we are in a time of crisis.

While the circumstances were unfortunate ones, I watched in amazement at the skill that all of you displayed as you worked together in minimizing the loss to Haywood Community College. The competence, proficiency, and expertise that all of you displayed was impressive. Above all, your spirit of cooperation contributed in a positive way to helping reduce the potential for a more loss to the college.

I hope that Haywood Community College can continue to strengthen its partnership with all safety units throughout the county. Working together, we can all assist in making Haywood County the pleasant place for which it has become known.

Again, thank you for your professionalism. The college welcomes the opportunity to serve your needs as well.

Reading Room

“In a time of universal deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”

— George Orwell

We live in an age — the relativity of truth — in which Orwell’s adage seems as dated as monocles or top hats. Just as Darwin’s theory of evolution led to Social Darwinism, a philosophy pitting one human being against another with survival of the fittest as the supreme law for success, so Einstein’s theory of relativity changed popular philosophy and cultural mores as radically as it did the study of physics.

This Must Be the Place

Outside the Tipping Point Brewing windows on Main Street, heavy snowflakes cascaded upon downtown Waynesville last Wednesday night. Cars cautiously cruised through the intersection, with the snowfall increasing as the minutes ticked by.